Week Forty Five, Canon AE-1

Just because he made me shoot the fancy Nikon last week and
I know he sniffs at Canons I opted for the Canon AE-1 this week. Not the whole
story but I’m sticking with it! I actually wanted to try my hand at some
different lenses that I hear a lot about on twitter.

Let’s get the camera out of the way first and quickly! My go
too 35mm is a Pentax Me Super for those that don’t know, aperture priority in
auto, full manual able, light comfy and hellishly pretty. The Canon is fully
manual capable but in auto is shutter priority so I would need to think on
that. A bit bigger than the Pentax and to me not so pretty – but still a good
looking camera, I do like the mid/late 1970s SLR’s! The AE-1 sold over a
million units and for good reason, simple and effective it did the job for the
keen amateur and was affordable. This one is all black and nicely brassed,
rubbed in all the right places. Promising!

Lenses – I tend to stick to the 50mm or equivalent usually
with just 135mm I occasionally use with the Pentax to get a little closer if my
feet can’t. Chatter inferred the 100mm option was lighter and more usable so a
Canon FD 100 was first in the bag. Next was a wide, so many people seem to
prefer the 24/28 range over 50mm so a little 28mm canon FD was added also.
Finally the one thing I liked from my digital spell was macro, I have close-up
filters but they can be a faff! By the time you’ve hunted in your bag and
screwed it on the moment – read small moving object has passed so, a 50mm macro
FD was the last edition.

Film – EmulsiveFilm had a fresh film party! DeltaDefJam, any
of Ilford’s 100/400/3200 options so I went for the Delta 100. I popped a Kodak
colour 200 in the bag more in hope as the forecast was grim, rain rain and more
rain! Truly though I can’t complain with so many places around the world being
battered by storms, I can only work with what is put in front of me. I did
manage half a dozen colour shots but time ran out, they will follow.

Let’s do just a short over view then so you can get to what
I think are pretty fun pics considering. The camera it’s self is a beauty,
simple to learn, easy to use. I ran the full set of shutter speeds from 1000th
down to 2 seconds AND bulb! Just over half the film I zone metered and split
the remaining on the camera meter using both auto and manual, I was happy with
all and quite impressed! The 28mm I struggle with, closer up I found it useful
and sharp but found it lacking at infinity, this could be this lens itself,
maybe it is off a tad. The 100mm I made myself put on, not for any other reason
than I am used to a 50, it did well though! The apples shot wouldn’t have been
possible without it along with a couple of others. Now I saved my favourite
till last! The 50mm macro, what a great little lens! As a 50mm it does the job,
a tad slow at just f3.5 but usable. The macro was a game changer for me, no
faffing just a twist and you right up close. Easy to focus I could have shot
the whole roll just on that. It is nice and sharp and when used fast gave great
shallow DoF and loads of bokeh. Equally I did pretty well with it on a tripod
dodging rain in my back yard messing with the bulb option and the garden
fairies.